John Hawkes

Actor

Born: 11 September 1959

Birthplace: Alexandria, Minnesota

Best known as:

The Oscar-nominated co-star of Winter's Bone

Name at birth: John Marvin Perkins

John Hawkes is an American character actor whose performance in the 2010 movie Winter's Bone earned him an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor. A native of Minnesota, he moved to Austin, Texas in 1978 and began a career as an actor and musician while working odd jobs. He moved to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue TV and movie roles, and took the name John Hawkes (since there was already a John Perkins in the Screen Actors Guild). After years in small roles, John Hawkes won over audiences as "Bugsy" in the 2000 movie The Perfect Storm (starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg). He's since done supporting roles in big-budget Hollywood movies as well as smaller, independent movies -- including the lead in 2005's Me and You and Everyone We Know. John Hawkes was also a cast regular in the cable series Deadwood (2004-06) and Eastbound & Down (2010). His other films include From Dusk Till Dawn (1996, starring Quentin Tarantino), Hard Ball (2001, starring Keanu Reeves), Identity (2003, with John Cusack, Ridley Scott's American Gangster (2007), Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna (2008), Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) and The Sessions (2012, opposite Helen Hunt).

Extra credit:

While living in Austin, John Hawkes (then John Perkins) was a member of the band Meat Joy... Hawkes is currently in the band King Straggler... Fans of the TV series The X-Files may remember Hawkes as a creepy writer with a crush on Scully (Gillian Anderson), in the episode "Milagro" (1999).